RE: [ISN-Council] FW: The (Misinformation Center

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I could not agree with Jon more, further I believe the chance to wire the
manager could be a profit center for IBM.  The IBM eBay site could be used
to take bids...

I never thought the Bookreader stuff was very elegant, but it was useful.
The pdf version was useful, but I still preferred the Bookreader, and the
progress to the online Infocenter was not progress at all.  I know we have
programmers that refuse to use it because they can never find anything
useful.  The search function is totally dysfunctional.  The only value it
actually has is the instant ability to get web access for all the
programmers. :-) While that is not trivial, it would help if the darned
thing was worth a hoot.  When I tell someone to RTFM they respond with just
the F.  If the web delivery method is the future, and I suppose it is, the
material organization and search function has to be completely rethought and
redone.  Hopefully with usability study, and a sample of real world users
with real world questions.

Tom Westdorp
Station Casinos

-----Original Message-----
From: Anne Lucas [mailto:alucas@us.ibm.com]
Sent: Monday, April 29, 2002 10:29 AM
To: midrange-l@midrange.com
Subject: Re: [ISN-Council] FW: The (Misinformation Center


I've forwarded these emails to the right person... should be back to you
soon with a response.  The person I really want to respond is out due to a
death in the family... so if you'll give us a few days we'll get you an
answer.   Thanks!

************
Have a great day! and .... Enthusiasm is like a ripple in the water... It
spreads!


Anne C. Lucas, Project Exec, iSeries Nation and iSeries Marketing -
www.ibm.com/eserver/nation1
205/823-4831  T/L 537-9968,  eFax:  603-687-8053,  800/223-3907 Pager

Admin Assist:   Alice Sebastiano Telephone:  (914) 642-4109, tie line
224-4109 Fax:  (914) 642-6976, tie line 224-6976

----- Forwarded by Anne Lucas/Birmingham/IBM on 04/29/2002 12:27 PM -----




I finally had enough of the darned Misinformation Center and sent the
missive below to the complaint line.  I know it is not strictly for this
kind of thing, but since every time it is raised at COMMON we're told that
our problems will be "fixed" in the next release, it is clear that whoever
owns this mess is not getting the message.

I understand work is already underway to bury (yes I did mean to use that
word) the pSeries documentation in the Center in the near future.  That
will
be fun.  Not only will "Tivoli" be the answer to every question I ever ask,
but it will be the bloody AIX version!

Anyway - though y'all might get a chuckle out of this - I was going to
suggest the manager have the electric wires attached to his private parts
(which is what I'd really like to do) but decided against it on the grounds
of decorum.

Jon Paris
Partner400



-----Original Message-----
From: Jon Paris [mailto:Jon.Paris@Partner400.com]
Sent: Saturday, April 27, 2002 6:09 PM
To: RCHCSAT@US.IBM.COM
Subject: The (Mis)Information Center


Please - please - please can we go back to good old-fashioned manuals!  You
know - those things where you could actually look up information and find
it!!

I have just spent an ultimately futile 3+ hours attempting to find
information in the mess known as the Information Center.  This was just the
latest of many such futile forays.  Perhaps it was the fact that it was
wasting my weekend time that has incensed me to write this, or perhaps this
was simply the last straw.

I knew the basics of what I was looking  for - I even knew the DDS keyword
related to one of the two queries I was pursuing - and I _still_ couldn't
find the information.

I have a suggestion to fix this.  Let's arrange for the manager responsible
for this "product" to sit at a terminal and be forced to look up the
answers
to _simple_ technical queries.  Every time he is directed to a completely
useless page link,  he will receive a brief but powerful electric shock.  I
am convinced that after only about two or three queries he will cry
"Uncle".
With luck he will then go back to his office and order this staff to
rebuild
the whole thing.  This is the biggest single disaster that IBM has foisted
on the iSeries community - was _any_ usability testing ever done on it?  I
cannot believe it was or it could never have escaped into the public arena.

Jon Paris
Partner400


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